The US commemoration of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising was launched yesterday in New York by Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan, Ambassador Anne Anderson, and leading figures from the Irish and American communities including writer Colum McCann, Senator Chuck Schumer, singer Maxine Linehan, Irish tenor Antony Kearns, and actor Liam Neeson.

Ireland 2016 will consist of a year-long program of over 200 events across the country, exploring the history of Easter Week 1916 and forming a larger celebration of the shared history and enduring bond between Ireland and America.

At the Irish Consulate in New York and, later, at Pier A Harbor House (the spot where thousands of immigrants arrived in New York city from Ellis Island; recently rehabilitated as a venue by Irishman Danny McDonald), the Irish American community gathered to mark the start of the 1916 centenary and to learn what the coming year has in store.

“This is a highly significant year in Ireland and for Irish people across the globe. There’s no other small country with such a hugely engaged diaspora as Ireland,” Minister Flanagan told IrishCentral.

He noted that it was “highly appropriate” to launch the commemorative program for 2016 in New York, since “no other city, and no country, played a more important role in the Easter Rising and the subsequent one hundred year journey for a lasting and just peace settlement, than the United States.”

Irish America must play a key role in the 1916 commemorations, he explained, because the Rising’s overarching aim of Irish independence was “a cause for which generations of Irish Americans had dedicated themselves and, without whose support, Ireland would never have achieved its place amongst the nations of the earth.”

Five of the seven Irishmen who signed the Proclamation of the Irish Republic had spent significant time in the US before the Rising, and one of them, Thomas Clarke, was even a naturalized American citizen. America also holds the distinction of being the only foreign country to be mentioned by name in the Proclamation, which, Flanagan added, was itself inspired by the American Declaration of Independence.

The year of Ireland 2016 events across the Unites States was organized by the Irish Embassy and the six consulates general in New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin and San Francisco, which worked closely with partners in the federal and local governments, with key cultural institutions and leading academic institutions, as well as many Irish community groups.

Rather than simply focusing on New York, Boston and other American cities with the strongest historic links to the Rising, the 2016 program of events will be spread out across country, offering the larger Irish diaspora in America an array of cultural, community and educational events. I am Ireland, an initiative led by Culture Ireland, will bring even more Irish art and culture to the US in the year ahead.

The centerpiece of the 2016 celebrations will be Ireland 100, a three week festival of Irish arts and culture from May 17 to June 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC featuring some of Ireland’s best known and most exciting artists, including actress Fiona Shaw, The Abbey Theater, dancer Jean Butler, musical group The Gloaming, and writers Colum McCann, Anne Enright and Colm Toibin.

Another cornerstone of the program will be “1916: The Irish Rebellion,” a feature documentary on the Rising produced by the University of Notre Dame.

The documentary is Liam Neeson, who attended yesterday’s launch at Pier A. It is set to air on PBS and will be screened in various venues across the US.

Flanagan expressed hope that the program would extend beyond Irish community in its appeal. “It’s not only for Irish people, it’s not only for Irish Americans, it’s for everybody here across the United States, and I hope there will be people who will become involved in sharing our heritage for the first time – people perhaps with no immediate association or connection with Ireland, in the wider America. I invite them to become involved in Ireland America and our strong relationship.”

On the subject of criticism that the global events for the 1916 centenary have been too politically correct in their inclusiveness of British commemoration, he said it was important to acknowledge the past with an eye to the future.

“In our decade of centenaries we reflect on what is the rich tapestry of Ireland and Irish politics. The years of 1920 – 1922 were particularly turbulent, and it’s important we recognize that and we reflect on the events, but it’s also important that we do so in a way that commemorates our past 100 years and that we also look to the future of a political climate on the island of Ireland, particularly with our nearest and closest neighbor, the United Kingdom,” He said.

“I am fresh from 10 weeks in Belfast, I had talks with [Northern Ireland’s] Secretary of State Teresa Villiers just before Christmas. It’s important to acknowledge the great progress we have made there, but also to acknowledge that this is an ongoing project, and I believe that the centenary program, here in the United States as well as at home, is very much reflective of this.”

Irish Ambassador to the US Anne Anderson also expressed hope for the impact of the Ireland 2016 program.

“When these centenary events draw to a close, I hope we will look back on a year that has raised Ireland’s profile in America, that has educated us and animated us, challenged us and illuminated the path forward,” she said.

She observed that Americans, particularly during election time, have a tendency to affirm things in terms of “this is who we are.”

“I love the way that Americans, as they confront choices and challenges, reach for that affirmation. ‘This is who we are.’ It does not suggest a perfect America, it does not erase the flaws or the errors, but it summons what is best and truest in America, the generous-spirited, open-hearted land of opportunity,” she said.

“I hope that in 2016, in our centenary program, we can show America this is who we are. This is Ireland at its best. Not perfect, not airbrushed, but a country of abiding values, endless questing, unsurpassed talent, and extraordinary achievements.”

1916 | 2016

TG4 marks the 1916 Centenary with a combination of jewels from our archive and some bold new content, Wednesday nights at 19:30 will re-show Seachtar na Cásca: profiles of all of those executed after the Rising. TG4 is also dedicating a prime time slot on Tuesday nights, 9.30pm, as a showcase for a series of major documentaries that focus on some of the stories, events and personalities that shaped the nation in the decades that followed.

Upcoming Programmes include:

Páistí na Réabhlóide – Tuesday 05/01/16 @ 9.30pm

This film tells the stories of some of the babies born between 1916 and 1922. These are the children born at the beginning of a divided nation. As we reach the 90th anniversary of the Irish Civil War we hear their personal accounts of the world that they were born into, their parents, their families and what became of their lives in a country that was changed forever. Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Máire Mc Swiney Brugha, Paddy McFlynn, Uinsionn Ó Gairbhí, Proinsias Ó Conluain and Canon Alfred O’Connor all contribute to the programme.

1916 Seachtar na Casca – Tom Clarke – Wednesday 06/01/16 @ 7.30pm

Documentary on the 7 signatories of the 1916 Easter Proclamation. This episode tells the story of shopkeeper, tobacconist and old Fenian Tom Clarke who many believe was the brains and driving force behind the 1916 Easter Rising. Born on the Isle of Wight, to a family whose father served in the British Army, Clarke grew up to be a prominent Fenian, was jailed for 15 years for his part in a failed bombing campaign in England and put together the Military Council that went on to plan the Easter Rising. He was the first to sign the Proclamation and was executed by firing squad on May 4th 1916.

An Trucailín Donn – Tuesday 12/01/16 @ 9.30pm

A new and timely documentary which examines the life and legacy of a small farmer from Co. Donegal who left a rich legacy of songs and whose little donkey and cart almost caused a revolution! Niall Mac Giolla Bhríde was no ordinary small farmer. He was a committed Irish speaker. In 1905, returning from market day in Dunfanaghy, he was stopped by an enthusiastic policeman. He was summoned to appear in court – his crime that of having ‘An Trucaillín Donn’ displayed in Irish on his donkey cart. The ripple effect caused a campaign to change British government policies towards the Irish language.

Thomas MacDonagh was born in 1878, the eldest son of two primary school-teachers in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary. He went to Rockwell College in 1892 to study for the priesthood but left again in 1901 abandoning his vocation. A playwright, poet and university lecturer MacDonagh commanded the Volunteer forces in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory during the rising and was jailed after like all the other leaders in Kilmainham Jail. MacDonagh was executed on May 3rd 1916 leaving behind a wife and 2 children – Donagh and Barbara.

Execution – Erskine Childers – Tuesday 19/01/16 @ 9.30pm

The one they feared the most; the capable, able, principled traitor who betrayed his country, his class, his culture and paid with his life. The programme traces Childers’ extraordinary conversion from staunch British Imperialist growing up in County Wicklow to hard-line Irish Republican executed by the Free State in 1922 for possession of a handgun given to him for his own protection by Michael Collins.

1916 Seachtar na Casca – Patrick Pearse – Wednesday 20/01/16 @ 7.30pm

Patrick Henry Pearse was born in 27 Great Brunswick Street (Now Pearse Street) on November 10th 1879. He was a poet, teacher, barrister and writer, but to many he is seen as the embodiment of the 1916 Rising. It was Pearse who read the Proclamation on the steps of the GPO on Easter Monday April 24th 1916. As President of the Provision Government Pearse signed the surrender documents at the end of Easter week and was the first of the signatories to be executed on the morning of May 3rd 1916..